CRI answers one question: under this light, how close do colours come to how they look under a reference source? It is the most quoted number in lighting after lumens, and the one most often misunderstood by the people approving the sample.
What the scale measures
The index is built on eight pastel test colours, scored from 0 to 100 against a reference lamp of the same colour temperature. A score of 100 means the colours match. In practice, residential LED lamps run from about 80 to 98.
| CRI | Where you see it | What it means in a room |
|---|---|---|
| Below 80 | Low-cost bulbs and fixtures | Reds and skin tones look flat or grey |
| 80–85 | Most mass-market LED | Acceptable for utility lighting |
| 90–93 | Better residential and retail | Wood, fabric and food look natural |
| 95+ | Specifier grade | Critical in galleries, hospitality, apparel |
Why 90 is not automatically better than 85
Two lamps can both score 90 and render one specific colour very differently, because the score is an average. The extended test set, R9 to R15, exists for exactly this reason, and R9 in particular measures saturated red, which is what makes wood, brick and skin look alive.
R9 is the number nobody quotes
A lamp with CRI 85 and R9 above 50 will look better in a furnished room than a lamp with CRI 92 and R9 near zero. If a supplier cannot tell you R9, they have not tested it, and in most cases the answer is low.
Where it matters commercially
Retail, hospitality and any environment where product or people are judged by appearance. In a warehouse or a parking structure, CRI is a line item you can reduce without anyone noticing. In a restaurant with wood tables, it is the difference between the room looking expensive and looking tired.
How to evaluate a sample properly
Put the sample in the intended room, at night, with the other lights off. Look at skin, then wood, then food, then black fabric. Do not judge under daylight through a window, because your eye adapts to the daylight and the lamp never gets a fair hearing.
Photographs of a CRI 90 sample under a CRI 80 lamp will look worse than the product is. Never evaluate colour rendering from a phone photo.
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